Drinking fountainhead guard

ABSTRACT

A guard to protect fountainhead fixtures mounted in a sink or receptor consisting of an encircling cylinder or arch-shaped segment placed to surround or overshadow the fixture, such guard supported in place by a pair of brace members which in turn are secured at their opposite ends to the end walls of the receptor, so that the fixture guard is structurally independent of the fixture itself.

United States Patent [72] Inventor Laurence S. Nelson 4764 Belfast Avenue, Oakland, Calif. 94619 [21 Appl. No. 93,597

[22] Filed Nov. 30, 1970 [45] Patented Jan. 4, I972 [54] DRINKING FOUNTAINHEAD GUARD 5 Claims, 3 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 239/2885 B0511 15/04 Field of Search 239/24, 28,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,209,874 12/1916 Newton Primary ExaminerLloyd L. King Assistant Examiner-Edwin D. Grant Attorney-Warren, Rubin, Brucker & Chickering ABSTRACT: A guard to protect fountainhead fixtures mounted in a sink or receptor consisting of an encircling cylinder or arch-shaped segment placed to surround or overshadow the fixture, such guard supported in place by a pair of brace members which in turn are secured at their opposite ends to the end walls of the receptor, so that the fixture guard is structurally independent of the fixture itself.

PATENTEDM 4 FIG.3

LJVEHTOR. LAURENCE S. NELSON ATTO NEYS DRINKING FOUNTAINIIEAD GUARD This invention relates to drinking fountains, and particularly to the fountainhead fixture thereof mounted in receptors or sinks as commonly found in schoolyards and the like. More specifically this invention relates to a guard assembly for the fixture heads themselves.

Drinking fountain fixtures are commonly carried either singly or in groups in receptors or sinks as often seen in various public places, especially schoolyards and the like. Occasionally, either by accident or design, the drinking head fixtures, which are supported on slender vertical pipe stems, are broken off at the base of such stems, usually by a passerby striking a solid blow to the fixture by the swing of a baseball bat, club, or the like. The maintenance time required, inconvenience to normal users, and cost of replacement of fixtures damaged in this manner have become a substantial problem in public schools, particularly in recent years. While fixture guards per se are not newsee for example U.S. Pat. No. 1,188,059, to A. l. Fischer, for SANITARY DRINKING FOUNTAIN, patented June 20, 1916 such guards, where furnished at all, are relatively ineffective since they do not provide structural integrity independent of the fixture itself. Thus a blow as described above to such a fixture provided with guards of the type characterized by the prior art with which I am familiar usually results in the entire device guard, fixture, and all being dislodged.

Thus it is an object of the present invention to provide a drinking fountain fixture guard which will effectively thwart either accidental or purposeful attempts to deal damaging blows thereto which could sever the fixture from its operative position within a receptor. More specifically it is an object of the present invention to provide a guard assembly for drinking fountain fixtures which is structurally independent of the fixture being protected, thus assuring that blows imposed upon, and fended off by, the guard will not be transmitted destructively through the fixture, but rather will be dissipated harmlessly through the more substantial components of the rest of the installation, such as the receptor itself.

It is a feature and advantage of the present invention to effectively frustrate the casual, accidental, or malicious destruction of drinking fountain fixtures, particularly those in public playgrounds and the like, and thus minimize inconvenience of down time and costly replacement maintenance.

Other objects, features, and advantages of my invention will become apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art upon a reading of the specification which follows and with reference to the accompanying drawing, where the same designations refer to identical corresponding elements in each of the several figures. Turning now to the drawings,

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing my invention mounted in place and carried by a receptor having three fountainhead fixtures;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line 2-2 of FIG. I; and

FIG. 3 is a partial sectional view in perspective showing an alternative embodiment of my invention.

My invention may be understood by referring first to FIG. I wherein the guard assembly of my invention is indicated at 12 and, in the embodiment shown, includes a guard 14 in the form of a cylindrical skirt surrounding fountainhead fixture 16. In the particular application of FIG. 1 fixture 16 is but one of three identical fixtures, I6, 18, and 20, respectively, all of which are mounted in a conventional manner to receptor or sink 22. The receptor in turn is supported by conventional brackets or the like known to those skilled in the art and thus not shown on the drawings nor further described herein. Fixture heads 18 and 20 are also provided with guards in the form of circular skirts 24 and 26, respectively.

Each of fixtures l6, l8, and 20 are provided with standard plumbing and valve attachments of common variety, including the slender and vertical pipe stem 17 (FIG. 2), which enable the normal user upon' operation thereof to cause a water stream such as indicated at 25 to be emitted from the fixture, for drinking purposes. Each of circular guards are fabricated to include notch 27 to assure an unimpeded flow of water stream 25.

As has been noted in the introductory remarks to this specification, a common problem attendant drinking fountain accommodations of the type just described is that either by accident or mischief the fountainhead fixtures are from time to time broken off by passersby wielding a baseball bat or the like and imparting a damaging blow thereby directly to the fixture. Usually severance occurs where the relatively slender, and hence highly vulnerable, pipestem 17 passes through basin surface 32 of the receptor. By providing guard 14 having an upper edge 28 at an elevation above the top of the fixture which it encircles, and a lower edge 30 located below the lower portion of the fixture near its slender support stem 17, proximate base or basin surface 32, the entire fixture is guardedly surrounded so that one cannot deal to it a damaging blow with a instrument such as a baseball bat or the like. (All reference herein afier to any of fixtures l6, l8, and 20 and/or their associated guards, I4, 24 and 26 respectively, applies equally to each of the others, redundant descriptions being omitted.)

In this connection it is a particular feature of the present invention that the shock produced by a blow taken by fixture guard 14 be absorbed and transmitted by structure independent of the fixture being protected. Only in this way of course can the fixture be entirely safeguarded, since even the indirect shock of a blow could cause damage thereto. This is achieved in my invention by means of brace assembly 34 comprising parallel bars 36, 38 which span the length of receptor 22 from the one end wall 38 to the opposite end wall 40. Each of bars 36, 38 are spaced so as to be tangent to opposite sides of cylindrical skirt l4, and firmly attached thereto by means of weldments as indicated in the drawing, although equivalent suitable fasteners such as bolts, rivets or the like could be employed. The bars themselves, conventional rolled steel angles as shown in the drawing, particularly in the sectional view of FIG. 2, are secured to opposite receptor end walls 38, 40 by means of fastener brackets 42 at each end of the receptor.

Upper bracket half 44 is attached to proximate ends of bars 36, 38 by weldment or other suitable means; while lower bracket half 46 is bolted to the upper half by means of suitable fasteners 48, such as the nut and bolt combination shown. Bracket halves 44, 46 are shaped to conform and snugly embrace the receptor end walls and, when securely bolted together by means of fasteners 48, firmly clamp the entire guard assembly to the receptor. In this way, brace bars 36, 38, and guards 14, 24, and 26, are firmly secured in place so as to resist external blows; and at the same time are maintained in such position while out of supportive contact with the fixtures being protected. Thus any shock imparted to guard 14 is absorbed and transmitted through the brace bars and fastener brackets, and harmlessly dissipated through the receptor end walls and the receptor itself to the adjacent ground and/or building. In this way no portion of the shock produced by such a blow is taken by the relatively frail drinking fountain fixture and pipe stem.

While a variety of materials may be employed from which to fabricate the foregoing described guard assembly, I have found it preferable to use heavy gauge galvanized steel, although it is evident that various cast, rolled, forged, or other formed ferrous or nonferrous metal alloys and other materials may be used, so long as they may be joined to each other and the receptor, and resist sharp blows without unduly yielding or cracking. An alternative embodiment to my invention which may have some advantages in simplicity of construction and cost, and apparently is as effective as the preferred embodiment described hereinabove, is shown at FIG. 3 There I substituted for cylindrical skirt l4, segment 14' which in the version shown is fabricated of heavy gauge steel strap shaped to fonn an arch over the fixture it protects. The opposite base ends of the arch are welded or otherwise suitably secured to brace bars 36, 38. Width w of the brace bar is selected so that opposite vertical edges 28', 28" of the segment lie in planes outwardly of opposite sides of the fixture. In this manner I achieve the desired guard effect, whereby an instrument such as a baseball bat or the like, if arcuately wielded toward the fixture in a manner so as to dislodge it from its base, will be prevented from so doing by virtue of contact made first with one of the two opposite vertical edges of the segment. Or, if the blow is directed to one side of the fixture, such will be deflected by the flat sides of the arch.

It is also an advantage of the archshaped guard that the configuration thereof inherently does not interfere with the normal trajectory of the water stream. Thus this alternative embodiment of my invention does not require the additional fabrication of providing a V- notch in the guard as is usually required in the case of the cylindrical skirt guard design. In both the preferred embodiment of my invention as shown in FIG. 1, and the alternative embodiment of FIG. 3, brace bars 36, 38, also provide auxiliary protection against battering by occupying the space between fountain fixtures, as may be especially appreciated by viewing FIG. 1. This additional desired effect achieved by the physical presence of braces 36, 38 occurs notwithstanding the primary function of these elements which is to provide independent structural support for either the cylindrical skirt guards exemplified by FIG. 1 or the archshaped guards of FIG. 3.

I claim:

1. A guard assembly for preventing damage to fountainhead fixtures mounted in a receptor, said assembly comprising:

guard means proximate each of said fixtures to form a protective surface outwardly of the fixture proximate thereto to prevent contact of said fixture with an external instrument such as a baseball bat or the like wielded by a passerby, said guard means also shaped to allow normal trajectory of a water stream emitted by the fixture when operated by a user thereof for drinking purposes;

brace means carried by said receptor and secured to each of said guard means to hold the latter securely in position in respect of each of said fixtures proximate thereto and independently thereof, said brace and guard means out of supportive contact with said fixtures; and

fastener means securing the opposite ends of said brace means to the end walls of said receptor.

2. The guard assembly in accordance with claim 1 wherein said guard means comprises a cylindrical skirt surrounding each said fountainhead fixture, said skirt formed with the upper edge thereof located above the top of said fixture, and the lower edge of the skirt positioned to encircle the lower portion of said fixture proximate the base surface of said receptor.

3. The guard assembly in accordance with claim I wherein said guard means comprises a segment shaped to form an arch over each said fountainhead fixture, the opposite vertical edges of said segment lying in planes outwardly of said fixture.

4. The guard assembly in accordance with claim 2 and wherein said brace means comprises a pair of bars disposed on opposite sides of said cylindrical skirt.

5. The guard assembly in accordance with claim 3 and wherein said brace means comprises a pair of bars disposed on opposite sides of said segment. 

1. A guard assembly for preventing damage to fountainhead fixtures mounted in a receptor, said assembly comprising: guard means proximate each of said fixtures to form a protective surface outwardly of the fixture proximate thereto to prevent contact of said fixture with an external instrument such as a baseball bat or the like wielded by a passer-by, said guard means also shaped to allow normal trajectory of a water stream emitted by the fixture when operated by a user thereof for drinking purposes; brace means carried by said receptor and secured to each of said guard means to hold the latter securely in position in respect of each of said fixtures proximate thereto and independently thereof, said brace and guard means out of supportive contact with said fixtures; and fastener means securing the opposite ends of said brace means to the end walls of said receptor.
 2. The guard assembly in accordance with claim 1 wherein said guard means comprises a cylindrical skirt surrounding each said fountainhead fixture, said skirt formed with the upper edge thereof located above the top of said fixture, and the lower edge of the skirt positioned to encircle the lower portIon of said fixture proximate the base surface of said receptor.
 3. The guard assembly in accordance with claim 1 wherein said guard means comprises a segment shaped to form an arch over each said fountainhead fixture, the opposite vertical edges of said segment lying in planes outwardly of said fixture.
 4. The guard assembly in accordance with claim 2 and wherein said brace means comprises a pair of bars disposed on opposite sides of said cylindrical skirt.
 5. The guard assembly in accordance with claim 3 and wherein said brace means comprises a pair of bars disposed on opposite sides of said segment. 